Guild Wars 2

I mean, I know what she is the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade and protector of Queen Jennah but she’s also a mesmer and it’s been revealed that she may not look her true age.

This makes me wonder – how much power does a mesmer really have? Could she be hiding everything about herself? Maybe she’s not really Krytan (Elonian, Canthan?), or maybe she’s not really female, or maybe she’s not really human. Could a mesmer maintain that level of power and illusion? The wiki is uncharacteristically sparse when it comes to her.

Is there lore from any other source that gives more info on her, her origins, family, etc?

Thanks!

Working backwards: no, there’s nothing on her beyond what the wiki has, but that’s not exactly unusual- Anet is very rarely inclined to feed us background on characters. Compare, for instance, what we have on Logan or Rytlock before they joined company.

Mesmers can certainly change everything with their illusions- during S2 we saw Anise herself hide as a sylvari, and in several hearts we’re transformed into, among other things, steam ogres and tiny raven forms*. How long they can keep such illusions up is a greater question, but it isn’t made out to be something particularly taxing, and it may be that it takes no upkeep at all.

I will mention, for the sake of covering all possibilities, that whenever such an illusion/transformation is bestowed, it doesn’t change the recipient’s sex, at least in such forms as have observable sexual dimorphism. An argument could be made that this is a limitation of the magic, although I personally am inclined to believe it’s just a choice being made by the NPCs for comfort’s sake.

There’s been a lot of debate over who Anise really is- I’ve heard everything from Livia to Jennah- but at this point there is very little evidence that she’s anything other than who she claims to be. Not to say you can’t speculate! Just expect any claims to prove contentious.

*The latter, at least, is specifically stated to be an illusion, but most such changes are more ambiguously described as transformations. Like moa morph, there’s room for contention over whether they’re illusions or actual, physical changes.

Thanks Aaron, you make some good points.

You mention Logan and Rytlock but I don’t see them as direct comparisons with Anise – just through the personal story we find out about them in greater depth and Logan has history and family that go back to Ebonhawke. We know absolutely nothing about her personally in-game.

Regarding mesmer illusions not changing the recipient’s sex – I can think of two examples right off of this happening: Lady Wi tranforms Tybalt into Demmi Beetlestone in the “Thrown Off Guard” chapter of the player story and Anise herself transforms the PC into “Big Nose Ted” (whether the PC is male or female) in the “Commander” chapter of the lvl 10 story.

I don’t mean to be argumentative but it seems interesting to me that Countess Anise is poised to play some bigger part in HoT. We know that Canache is going to be active somehow and Countess Anise has him on a leash of sorts. I was really just wanting to know if there was more info out there that I didn’t know about.

If I were going to speculate, which I’m not, I would find it very interesting that:
1. Queen Jennah was crowned in 1316 at which time she appointed Countess Anise as Master Exemplar.
2. We already know that Anise is hiding at least her age.
3. The Sylvari have been around for ~25 years (firstborn emerging in 1302).
4. Countess Anise has already been a Sylvari and seems to know how to push Canache’s buttons.

Just for fun

Don’t take the following seriously, just me throwing some gasoline onto the fire of speculation…

Conspiracy Theory #1: Anise is a Mursaat using illusions and is seeking to gain some form of control over Kryta much like how they controlled the White Mantle. Considering that the Isles of Janthir are not too far from Kryta…

That… actually is a scary idea, considering just how dangerous, and ancient, the Mursaat actually are.

Conspiracy Theory #2: Anise is a member of the White Mantle and has taken a different approach to the rest of that organization in making herself Queen Jennah’s advisor. What better way than to control Kryta, than from the shadows?

Is there a chance Anise could be a Sylvari mesmer perhaps? (VERY long shot I know, but) Anise is also another name for Aniseed (Pimpinella anisum of the Apiaceae family). Obvious vegitation link there, so it does make me wonder (in a tin-foil hat kind of way). There is also Star Anise (Illicium verum) produced from an evergreen tree which has medicinal uses, which could possibly be a hint that Anise herself is in some way a healer/apothecary using natural methods. I’ll remove my tin-foil hat now.

Ande, I never take my tin foil hat off – just isn’t safe.

I would love it if Countess Anise turned out to be a Sylvari hiding out in the Krytan court. So many possibilities. She could certainly be one of the secondborn since all of the firstborn are accounted for and if so would make a nice balance to Ceara/Scarlet Briar. The Pale Tree would want to ensure that the treaty between the humans and charr is successful (if only for the sake of defeating Zhaitan, et al) and Queen Jennah is driving that for now.

Edit: Nah, now that I think about it Canach is a second born – wouldn’t he know the others? Or at least be able to spot another secondborn? The sylvari seem to be able to “feel” each other. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

I like the theory of Anise being Lyssa or at least her avatar in human form. She is certainly mysterious, seems to have huge effect on Queen, and her magic is much more powerful than any other Mesmer we know… okay, except Queen herself, but she is strange one too.

I enjoyed this theory that Anise is Livia from GW1.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2dqeo9/countess_anise_is_livia_theory/

That theory’s been popular, but to play devil’s advocate, that particular post made a couple of mistakes to oversell the case- Livia was not still in charge of the Shining Blade at that time, being only an exemplar (at least one rank down from master exemplar), and she wasn’t shown to alter her appearance- she hadn’t aged, but she wasn’t described as any different from what she looked like in GW1.

Red Jay, that would be a hoot if the gods were sneaking back to help out the humans on the sly. And Lyssa is actually twins: Ilya and Lyss, Anise and Jennah – hmmm. There is another instance of one of the gods actively helping Tyrian denizens – in the player story the Avatar of Grenth (one of the seven reapers) comes at the bidding of a priestess of Grenth.

Anise is written very familiarly (she has a specific personality) though – not arch and grand and mysterious the way the avatar of a god might seem. It’s a fun idea.

Not all of the Firstborn are accounted for, there are 12 but only 10 of them have appeared in game thus far.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Firstborn

One is dead, and the other is in Kryta.

Wait a minute…

Both of those are in the ten. To give a full accounting- we have four firstborn hanging around the Grove running things, one leading the Pact, one gone AWOL with a shiny egg, one leading the Nightmare Court, two dead, and one last seen serving as ambassador to the human court. (Side note on Dagonet- I’m told he was removed, along with several other NPCs, to make way for the Wintersday decorations. He hasn’t been added back in since, and some people take this as HoT foreshadowing, but none of the other missing have been brought back either, and I find it unlikely that the likes of Rom, Lady Bethsha, and Jorge are involved in the sylvari corruption plotline.) That leaves two completely unknown- whether they’re dead or alive, where they might be and what they might be doing.

Michael.8562:

Red Jay, that would be a hoot if the gods were sneaking back to help out the humans on the sly. And Lyssa is actually twins: Ilya and Lyss, Anise and Jennah – hmmm. There is another instance of one of the gods actively helping Tyrian denizens – in the player story the Avatar of Grenth (one of the seven reapers) comes at the bidding of a priestess of Grenth.

Anise is written very familiarly (she has a specific personality) though – not arch and grand and mysterious the way the avatar of a god might seem. It’s a fun idea.

the Lyssa lore also writes Lyssa as being very close to humans.
“For a while she lived, veiled and hidden, in the village of Wren. When the building of Arah was completed Lyssa was commanded to join the other gods, though her tears fell like rain among the western road.”

I was playing an alt, and made note of a odd thing stated during human personal story.
Jennah is noted to be the last of the Salmaic dynasty.

“Scholar Josir: We can’t allow anything to happen to Queen Jennah. She’s the last of the royal line!
Agent Ihan: Perhaps not the last… but you’re right. Without Queen Jennah, we’d lose our treaty with the charr.”
The Order of Whispers seems to think Jennah is not the only member of the Royal line alive.

@Dragoon, @jgcd and @Aaron, ya’ll are right! And thanks Aaron for the accounting. I should have counted my firstborn more carefully.

So, I’m adding sylvari back in to my non-speculative speculation. As a firstborn hiding out as a human mesmer they would probably have the power to hide their true identity from a secondborn.

Has anyone checked Queen Jennah’s bare feet to see if she has toes?

@Casia, that’s an interesting point. There is the Krytan locket (Living World2:Entanglement:Concordia Incident) that supposedly shows the next heir to the Krytan throne – which is constantly being carted around by doyak to keep it secret. I wonder who’s in the picture in that locket?

Michael.8562:

@Casia, that’s an interesting point. There is the Krytan locket (Living World2:Entanglement:Concordia Incident) that supposedly shows the next heir to the Krytan throne – which is constantly being carted around by doyak to keep it secret. I wonder who’s in the picture in that locket?

I remember the personal story implying that the Order of Whispers also knows something about the heir of the throne, wonder when they’ll go back to that whole locket-story?

I predict that she is some sagy old woman who steals the tears or small children to stay young.

I predict that she is some sagy old woman who steals the tears or small children to stay young.

I don’t think it’s Livia.

IF it is someone we know from GW1… my guess would be Shadow. She’s the only Shining Blade female mesmer we know. (To be precise – her secondary profession is mesmer) That, and Jennah’s cat is called Shadow. This cat could be Carlotta on which Shadow used her (possibly) chronomancer’s magic. (IMO it’s very possible that Anise is a chronomancer)

My second theory is that she’s a robot (think Watchknight) created by Blimm or Zinn to protect Salma and then next generations. (Notice that Watchknights kinda resemble this chronomancer concept art. Btw… this concept art also resembles Razah...)

Isn’t there another theory that a padme situation is going on. Anise is Jennah disguised and Jennah is Anise disguised. Both are extremely competent Mesmer, but in the event of an assassination the true heir is preserved. What might be even weirder is that Logan has fallen in love with Anise, and risks everything to protect someone who he thinks is the real queen.

Fomivee.3065:

I don’t think it’s Livia.

IF it is someone we know from GW1… my guess would be Shadow. She’s the only Shining Blade female mesmer we know. (To be precise – her secondary profession is mesmer) That, and Jennah’s cat is called Shadow. This cat could be Carlotta on which Shadow used her (possibly) chronomancer’s magic. (IMO it’s very possible that Anise is a chronomancer)

Didn’t play GW1, but reading that wiki, the personality is spot on, for Shadow it seems.
The Shadow name drop was already theorized.
With the introduction to Chronomancer, you really might be on to something.

Kasmeer being one never made sense to me. But Anise being revealed as one, and having it explain her mysteries makes alot of sense imho.

Honestly, I think Countess Anise is mostly who she says she is. She may not truly be young and beautiful, because mesmer’s lol and I remember a little factoid about how she was Queen Jennah’s companion growing up, before she was what she is now.

A companion in aristocratic societies are usually a friend brought in to an heir or heiress of something to be a confidante since they live a gilded cage lifestyle, and companions are usually older than the person they are there for. So I honestly don’t think Countess Anise is anything like a sylvari disguised as a human, the most likely scenario is probably a much less sinister one. If anything, I think the Anise/Jennah switch up is most likely out of all the conspiracy theories.

On the subject of the locket revealing who the heir to the throne is, should the current sovereign die heirless: They revisited the subject a little bit during season 2 of the story where you are helping the Durmand Priory find the locket, and you can ask who it is but the magic on the locket was in a weak state so they had to get it back to the priory and let it recover before using it. I feel like in this subject it’s alluded that your character (if human) is the heir to Queen Jennah, if you connect the “dots” so to speak from the beginning of your personal story all the way to season 2 (I think it’s the same despite your social class, but as a noble your family has been very, very close to the Royal family since the day’s of Queen Salma). Your race gives you different dialogues with everyone if what’s going on is important to your race specifically, such as the locket, or the crown of Ascalon you’re trying to deliver to Queen Jennah as per the treaty after Rytlock uses it for the ritual he disappears in, and then everyone comforts you that you’ll get the crown back once we find Rytlock if you speak to them.

I’m a fan of the theory that Anise is actually the Queen herself in a mesmeric disguise while the Jennah we see her “protecting” is either a loyal companion in a similar disguise or just an illusion. What better way to protect the last heir to Kryta then through a solid misdirection like that? It also makes our time with the Countess much more interesting imo.

IMO Anise IS Livia.

I’ve been through the EotN cinematics and the personality fits to a tee. Nowadays she treats almost everyone like children probably because in relation to her age everyone IS a child. It could be that she NEEDED to go mesmer precisely for the youth-illusion part, for otherwise people would probably have issues having an old hag (maybe a lich?) be their queen’s primary guard. As to how she got to stay alive for over two centuries, maybe she discovered some ancient spells along with the Scepter of Orr which give magic-enhanced lifespans? To this I’m not entirely sure how it happened. But I’m certain she’s old; 60+ or 70+ at the least, because during the noble story arc with the trial by combat she exclaims

“Trial by combat? Who’d have thought it? I’m surprised Zamon even knows it’s an option. There hasn’t been one in over fifty years…or, at least, that’s what I’ve been told.”
It has been years since I’ve completed my main’s PS (which incidentally is a human noble) and at the time I never paid it any mind cos.. well.. at that time who would’ve expected it?

Professions can be changed the same way Kieran went from Ranger to Paragon during GW1 and even more recently Rytlock went from Warrior to Revenant, so it’s a choice and people are not born in a profession, nor are they locked in it.